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Scholia mythological

A COLLECTION AND EXPLANATION OF THE STORIES MENTIONED BY SAINT GREGORY IN HIS FIRST INVECTIVE ORATION AGAINST JULIAN

The invective oration is a censure of the things done by Julian. The invective differs from censure in that censure proceeds through the encomiastic topics, such as birth, upbringing, deeds, and comparison; but the invective proceeds through deeds alone, and perhaps also by comparison. It is called an "invective" (steliteutikos) from a metaphor of the stele; a stele is either a stone or a bronze plaque in an oblong, rectangular shape, on which is inscribed the hubris of the one being pilloried. For example, the Athenians inscribed on a stele Arthmius of Zelea, who was corrupting the Greeks with money so that they would be more submissive to the Persian, dishonoring both him and all his descendants, giving permission in the inscription for anyone who wished to kill him, having also inscribed the reason on the stele, which was a censure of this Arthmius, "Because," it says, "he brought the gold from the Medes into the Peloponnese." It is necessary to know that often the good deeds of benefactors were also inscribed on stelae, just as the good deed of Leucon, the ruler of the Bosporus, was inscribed in Athens. And this is the subject matter, but concerning the stories, we will mention them as briefly as possible. 4.1 This is the first story; "Let such as Empedocles and Aristaeus and Empedotimus and Trophonius make sport of these things among them." This Empedocles was a Sicilian by birth, a Pythagorean in philosophy. Wishing to be vainglorious, that he had been deified and had been taken up into the heavens, he threw himself into the fire that comes up from Etna. This fire is called "The Craters of Hephaestus." And he himself was destroyed by the fire, but God, wishing to make his vainglory public, caused his sandal to be spit out intact from the fire. And thus it was known that he was not taken up, but was burned up, as befitted his own vainglory. Those around Trophonius and Empedotimus and Aristaeus were from Boeotia, from the city of Lebadea, and they were seers by trade. And these too, wishing to be vainglorious and to show that they had been taken up, threw themselves into some subterranean caves in order to die and for their remains not to be found. These men died; and it was known that they died there because an oracle appeared in that place. There is a certain proverb which says, "You have consulted the oracle of Trophonius." It is said of those who are pale and never laugh. For everyone who goes down into that oracle comes up without laughing and continuously pale. This was proof of these very men, that having become pale and never having laughed in the subterranean place, they had died. Trophonius and Agamedes his brother were deemed worthy to prophesy because they built the temple of Apollo at Delphi with their own funds. 4.2 The second story is that concerning Proteus. This Proteus was a Thracian by birth; he had two sons, Molus and Telegonus. These men were robbers, and Heracles came and killed them while he was going after the cattle of Geryon. Therefore this Proteus, despondent over the loss of his children, threw himself into the sea, and the gods, taking pity on him, made him immortal. And he became a daemon of the sea, and he goes and lives on the island of Pharos. He is said to live among the seals. This man also took Helen from Alexander when he came from Greece, and he gave him an eidolon of Helen. But later, when Menelaus after the Trojan War learned that Helen was in Egypt and came to Proteus, he gave her to him. And this Proteus is said to change his shape for those who encounter him, at one time appearing like this, and at another time

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Scholia mythological

ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΗ ΚΑΙ ἘΞΗΓΗΣΙΣ ὯΝ ἘΜΝΗΣΘΗ ἹΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ Ὁ ἘΝ ἉΓΙΟΙΣ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ ἘΝ ΤΩΙ ΠΡΩΤΩΙ ΚΑΤΑ ἸΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΣΤΗΛΙΤΕΥΤΙΚΩΙ ΛΟΓΩΙ

Ὁ λόγος ὁ στηλιτευτικὸς ψόγος ἐστὶ τῶν Ἰουλιανῷ πεπραγμένων. διαφέρει δὲ ψόγου ὁ στηλιτευτικὸς ὅτι ὁ μὲν ψόγος διὰ τῶν ἐγκωμιαστικῶν κεφαλαίων προέρχεται, οἷον γένους, ἀνατροφῆς, πράξεων, συγκρίσεως· ὁ δὲ στηλιτευτικὸς διὰ μόνων τῶν πράξεων, εἰ τύχοι δὲ καὶ συγκρίσεως. στηλιτευτικὸς δὲ ἤκουσεν ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῆς στήλης· στήλη δέ ἐστιν ἢ λίθος ἢ χαλκὸς ἐν ἐπιμήκει τετραγώνῳ σχήματι, ἐν ᾗ ἐγγέγραπται ἡ τοῦ στηλιτευομένου ὕβρις. οἷον Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν Ζελείτην τὸν Ἄρθμιον, τὸν διαφθείροντα τοὺς Ἕλληνας χρήμασιν ἐπὶ τῷ μᾶλλον ὑπακοῦσαι τῷ Πέρσῃ, ἐν στήλῃ ἀνέγραψαν, ἀτιμώσαντες καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ ἅπαν τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ, ἐξουσίαν δεδωκότες ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι τῷ βουλομένῳ αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι, ἐγγράψαντες καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐν τῇ στήλῃ, ἥτις ἦν αὐτῷ τῷ Ἀρθμίῳ ψόγος, Ὅτι, φησί, τὸν χρυσὸν τὸν ἐκ τῶν Μήδων εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἤγαγεν. Εἰδέναι δὲ χρὴ ὅτι πολλάκις καὶ εὐεργετῶν εὐεργεσίαι ἐν στήλαις ἀνεγράφοντο, ὥσπερ ἡ τοῦ Λεύκωνος, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τοῦ Βοσπόρου, εὐεργεσία ἀνεγράφη ἐν Ἀθήναις. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ὑπόθεσίς ἐστιν αὕτη, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἱστοριῶν ὡς οἷόν τε διὰ βραχυτάτων ἐπιμνησθησόμεθα. 4.1 Πρώτη ἱστορία αὕτη· Ταῦτα μὲν παιζέτωσαν παρ' ἐκείνοις Ἐμπεδοκλεῖς καὶ Ἀρισταῖοι καὶ Ἐμπεδότιμοι καὶ Τροφώνιοι. Ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς οὗτος Σικελιώτης ἦν τὸ γένος, Πυθαγόρειος τὴν φιλοσοφίαν. βουλόμενος δὲ κενοδοξῆσαι, ὡς ὅτι ἀνιερώθη καὶ μετάρσιος γέγονεν εἰς οὐρανούς, ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῷ ἀναδιδομένῳ πυρὶ τῆς Αἴτνης. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πῦρ λέγεται Οἱ τοῦ Ἡφαίστου κρατῆρες. καὶ αὐτὸς μὲν ἀπώλετο ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρός, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς βουληθεὶς δημοσιεῦσαι αὐτοῦ τὴν κενοδοξίαν τὸ σάνδαλον αὐτοῦ ἀποπτυσθῆναι σῶον ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐποίησεν. καὶ οὕτως ἐγνώσθη ὅτι μετάρσιος μὲν οὐ γέγονε, κατεκάη δὲ ἀξίως τῆς οἰκείας κενοδοξίας. Οἱ δὲ περὶ τὸν Τροφώνιον καὶ Ἐμπεδότιμον καὶ Ἀρισταῖον ὑπῆρχον μὲν ἐκ τῆς Βοιωτίας, πόλεως Λεβαδίας, μάντεις δὲ τὰς τέχνας. καὶ οὗτοι δὲ βουλόμενοι κενοδοξῆσαι καὶ δεῖξαι ὅτι ἀνελήφθησαν, ἑαυτοὺς ἔν τισιν ὑποβρυχίοις σπηλαίοις ἔβαλον ἐπὶ τῷ τεθνάναι καὶ μὴ εὑρεθῆναι αὐτῶν τὰ λείψανα. οὗτοι δὲ τεθνήκασιν· ἐγνώσθησαν δὲ ὅτι ἐκεῖσε ἀπέθανον διὰ τὸ μαντεῖον φανῆναι περὶ τὸν τόπον. ἔστι δέ τις παροιμία ἡ λέγουσα Εἰς Τροφωνίου μεμάντευσαι. λέγεται δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν ὠχριώντων καὶ μηδέποτε γελώντων. πᾶς γὰρ καταβαίνων εἰς τὸ μαντεῖον ἐκεῖνο ἀγέλαστος ἀνῄει καὶ ὠχριῶν διηνεκῶς. ἔλεγχος δὲ ἦν οὗτος αὐτῶν τούτων ὅτι ὠχριάσαντες καὶ μηδέποτε ἐν τῷ ὑποβρυχίῳ γελάσαντες τεθνήκασιν. ἠξιώθησαν δὲ ὁ Τροφώνιος καὶ Ἀγαμήδης ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ μαντεύεσθαι διὰ τὸ κτίσαι αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ οἰκείων χρημάτων τὸ ἱερὸν τὸ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος. 4.2 ∆ευτέρα ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ κατὰ τὸν Πρωτέα. Οὗτος ὁ Πρωτεὺς Θρᾷξ μὲν ἦν τὸ γένος· εἶχε δὲ υἱοὺς Μῶλον καὶ Τηλέγονον. τούτους λῃστὰς ὄντας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐλθὼν ἀπέκτεινεν, ἀπερχόμενος διὰ τὰς Γηρυόνου βοῦς. τοῦτον οὖν ἀθυμοῦντα τὸν Πρωτέα διὰ τὴν ἀποβολὴν τῶν τέκνων, καὶ ῥίψαντα ἑαυτὸν εἰς θάλασσαν, οἱ θεοὶ ἐλεήσαντες ἀπηθανάτισαν. καὶ γέγονε δαίμων ἐνάλιος, καὶ ἔρχεται καὶ οἰκεῖ τὴν Φαρίαν νῆσον. οὗτος λέγεται καὶ μετὰ τῶν φωκῶν ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι. οὗτος καὶ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τὴν Ἑλένην ἔλαβεν ἐλθόντος ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος, καὶ δέδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸ εἴδωλον τῆς Ἑλένης. ὕστερον δέ, Μενελάου μετὰ τὸν Τρωϊκὸν πόλεμον μαθόντος ὡς εἰς Αἴγυπτόν ἐστιν ἡ Ἑλένη καὶ ἐλθόντος παρὰ τὸν Πρωτέα, δέδωκεν αὐτὴν αὐτῷ. Λέγεται δὲ οὗτος ὁ Πρωτεὺς μεταμορφοῦσθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, καί ποτε μὲν φαίνεσθαι τοιόσδε, ποτὲ δὲ